USA > Indiana > Boone County > History of Boone County, Indiana : With biographical sketches of representative citizens and genealogical records of old families, Volume I > Part 47
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WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP.
Before the sale of land in 1829, settlers came to this township, viz: John N. Fall, John Wilky, Joshua Allen, William West and Able Penning- ton. They were followed by others in 1832. The first election was held at the house of John S. Polk, April, 1832, when John Slocum and J. S. Polk were elected justices of the peace, sixty votes being cast. John Pauley and William Brown were elected constables at the same time. The first religious meetings were held at the house of William Pauley, about the year 1830. The first school was taught by Daniel Ellis in 1830. The following year David Ross built the first grist mill on Spring Branch. James P. Mills built the first tanyard in the township. The Cason graveyard in the south part of the township was the first burying ground, likewise Bethel, where are many monuments erected to the memory of the pioneers.
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WORTH TOWNSHIP.
Among the first pioneers to attack the forests in this part of the county were the following who came in the year 1830: Richard Hull, John and James McCord and James White. This little band was soon joined by Thomas Harm, Adam Kattering, Joseph White and John Smith; a few years later many others came. The first school was taught by Henry Lucas, in 1837. Among the early ministers we find Rev. John Good, Sr., J. A. Ruda- sill, Rev. E. S. Hinkle, John Good, Jr., and Reverend Livengood.
OUR FOREMOTHERS.
Today all over our land, orators will speak and editors will write of the glorious deeds of our forefathers; ours be it to keep green the memory of our foremothers. We are glad that in many parts of the country our na- tional anniversary is being observed as Foremothers' Day; it is most ap- propriate that on this day dedicated to patriotic memories, the organ of the largest organization of women the world has ever seen should recall some of the mothers who have so wrought that their names are worthy
"On Fame's eternal bead-roll to be filed."
Foremothers is a most appropriate title, for ever since the world be- gan mothers have been at the fore wherever hard or heroic work was to be done.
First, alphabetically and as regards her influence in shaping the na- tion's destiny, is Abigail Adams, wife of one president and mother of a second. No other American woman ever bore this honor, and it came to her, not accidentally, but as the natural result of her character. It is not too much to say that had Abigail Adams been a weak, silly woman, neither John Adams nor John Quincy Adams would have been fit for president. Through all those terrible years when the fate of the nation trembled in the balance, she was in reality "the guide, philosopher and friend," who held steady the often wavering faith and courage of her husband. During these years she was carefully training her son for his life-work, instilling into
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his mind those principles which shone so conspicuously when he became Chief Executive. In an age when it was considered a disgrace for a woman to be "learned," she was a thorough student, though it had often to be by stealth; she bore all the burdens of the family care during the long years that the country's service demanded her husband at the seat of government or in for- eign courts. As Charles Francis Adams, speaking of her power to adapt herself to most opposite duties, says: "She is a farmer, cultivating the land, and discussing weather and crops; a merchant reporting prices-current, and directing the making up of invoices; a politician speculating upon the proba- bilities of peace and war; and a mother writing the most exalted sentiments to her son."
It is proof of the excellent way in which she conducted business that, as her husband relates, the neighbors used to remark that they could always tell when John Adams was at home, for he did not keep the farm up as well as Abigail did in his absence.
Her studies of political economy, and her good, hard sense, early brought her to a conclusion which a century has not sufficed to make clear to some of her daughters. Writing to her husband while he, as a member of the Continental Congress of 1776, was wrestling with the great question of an independent nation, she said: "I long to hear that you have declared an independency. And, by the way, in the new way, in the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make, I desire you to re- member the ladies. and be more generous and favorable than your ancestors were. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands."
Her oft-quoted utterances show that even then she foresaw that the ballot in the hands of woman was a necessity for a stable, pure government. No less than emphatic was her conviction of the need of higher education for women. August 14, 1776, she wrote: "If we mean to have heroes, states- men and philosophers, we should have learned women. The world, perhaps, would laugh at me and accuse me of vanity, but you, I know, have a mind too enlarged and liberal to disregard this sentiment. If much depends, as is allowed, upon the early education of youth, and the first principles which are instilled take the deepest root, the great benefit must arise from literary accomplishments in women."
Another foremother of Revolutionary days, described by Lossing as the "Lady of Three Manors," is Mrs. Van Cortlandt Beekman, of whose courage
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and patriotism many instances are related. Once a party of Tories rode up to the manor-house, and insultingly demanded of Mrs. Beekman: "Are not you a daughter of that old rebel, Pierre Van Cortlandt?" Drawing herself up to her queenly height she answered: "I am daughter of Pierre Van Cort- landt, but it is not becoming for one like you to call my father a rebel." He raised his musket to strike her, but she never flinched. Instead, she looked him square in the eye, reproved him sharply, and bade him leave her house. Abashed by her courage and her flashing eye, he slunk away like the coward he was.
At another time her regard for her promise, aided by her womanly intuition, saved West Point, and with it the nation. Colonel Samuel B. Webb, father of James Watson Webb, and his brother John, known as "Lieu- tenant Jack," were on General Washington's staff, and frequent visitors to the Beekman mansion. One day Jack rode up hastily, gave his valise, which he told her contained a suit of clothes and a considerable sum of money, to Mrs. Beekman, charging her not to deliver it to any one without a written order from himself or his brother. A fortnight after, Joshua H. Smith, one of her neighbors, came and asked Mr. Beekman for Jack's valise, saying he wanted it in a great hurry, and had not time to write an order. Mr. Beekman sent a servant for it, but Mrs. Beekman refused to give it to him. In vain Smith pleaded, and finally flew into a passion, urging that his knowledge of the valise being there, and that it contained Lieutenant Jack's uniform was sufficient evidence that he was authorized to get it. But, as Lossing tells us, "Mrs. Beekman persisted in her refusal. She felt an in- tuitive and indefinable distrust of Smith, and even the expressions of dis- pleasure by her husband for such treatment of a neighbor did not move her." The result proved her distrust well grounded. That uniform was wanted for Andre, who was just Lieutenant Jack's height and figure. Had he secured it, his escape, in all human probability, would have been accomplished, and West Point would have fallen into the hands of the British.
The preservation of that vast domain "where rolls the Oregon," to the United States is due, in large measure, to the heroic endurance of Mrs. Spaulding and Mrs. Whitman, the first white women to cross the Rocky Mountains, and by their crossing, proved the path was possible. We honor Fremont as the Pathfinder, and inscribe his name on mountain pass and peak. This is well, but on the same rocky tablet which bears the inscription, "Fre-
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mont, 1842," should be inscribed "Mesdames Whitman and Spaulding, 1836," their names above his, for they were six years in advance of him. Read the story of these heroic women, as told by Barrows, in "Oregon," if you doubt that here, as everywhere, women were "to the fore."
During the third decade of this century two parallel columns of the English race were marching across this continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The one represented men's occupancy, "seeking to perpetuate wil- derness and propagate fur," for which work no woman's hand was needed; the other sought to carry Christian civilization beyond the Rockies, and realized that without woman's aid no Christian civilization is possible.
The Hudson Bay Company was the embodiment of the first idea; and Prince Rupert's Land illustrated its development. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions embodied the second idea, and its realization is seen in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.
Four Nez Perce's Indians had brought from the far Pacific coast the Macedonian cry, " 'Come over and help us,' by giving us The Book," and the missionary boards responded. To send men over the thousands of miles of trackless wilderness was difficult enough; to send women was declared im- possible. But the American Board feeling that without true family life, such as can exist only where husband and wife together build their home, it was useless to attempt either to civilize or to Christianize, decided to send two newly-married couples on this hazardous mission. Dr. Whitman was first chosen, and, with his fiancee, accepted the trust. Before his marriage he went over the ground and returned, pronouncing it possible, though very difficult, for women to make the journey. Mr. Spaulding and his bride were chosen to accompany the Whitmans. Mrs. Spaulding was just recovering from a long fit of sickness. Her husband said to her, "It is not your duty to go, your health forbids it; but the decision shall be left to you after we have prayed together." After their prayer the young bride was left alone. Ten minutes later, with a radiant face she called to her husband, "I have made up my mind for Oregon."
We leave to your imagination the storm of entreaties from friends- the pictures they drew of the dangers of the way-a three-thousand-mile journey, two thousand miles by canoe, saddle, or on foot, the danger from savages, but to all this her answer was: "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die on
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the Rocky Mountains for the name of the Lord Jesus Christ." This spirit actuated both these heroic women, and enabled them to surmount all the difficulties of the way and, arriving triumphant at their journey's end, proved to the world that Oregon was accessible from the east, and that it was a country worth saving to the nation.
Besides the name of Mrs. Spaulding and Mrs. Whitman, we would in- scribe that of Jesse Benton Fremont, worthy daughter of a noble sire, with- out whose help and inspiration the work of her husband never could have been accomplished.
All frontier life is full of the heroic deeds and the more heroic sacrifices of the foremothers of civilization. No records show, no honor can over- estimate the debt America owes to her pioneer foremothers.
Among the mightiest forces of civilization is the press; the foremothers of the press deserve our recognition today. The world's first daily news- paper was established and edited by a woman, Elizabeth Mallett, in London in 1702. The reason she gave for establishing it was "to spare the public half the impertinences the ordinary papers contain." Woman's journalism today, by its high tone, its freedom from scandal and personal vituperation, testifies to Elizabeth Mallet's clearness of insight, and is the realization of her faith concerning what woman in journalism would accomplish.
The first American newspaper of which we have any record is the Massachusetts Gazette and News-Letter. Its founder died, and his widow, Margaret Craper, conducted the paper for several years after his death. Her pluck and persistence are shown by the fact that the News-Letter did not suspend during the British siege and occupation of Boston, and it is the only paper of which this can be said.
Mrs. Marion McBride, secretary of the National Woman's Press Asso- ciation, among other interesting facts on this subject tells us that Rhode Island's first newspaper was owned and edited by Anna Franklin. It was started in 1732; she not only edited it, but with the assistance of her two daughters, set the type, and their servants worked the printing press, steam presses being then undreamed of. History records that for her quickness and correctness she was appointed printer to the colony. Among the other documents issuing from her press is an edition of the Colonial Laws, of 340 pages. Today a woman, Myra Bradwell, stands acknowledged head of legal printers and editors. Her reports in the Legal News are received as author-
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ity in courts East and West, North and South. While visiting New Orleans with her, I heard Hon. E. C. Merrick, for many years one of the judges of the Supreme Court of Louisiana, tell her he had on file every number of her paper from its commencement, eighteen years ago; this shows the value he attaches to it.
Today the country is flooded with picture advertising cards; so com- mon are they it seems that, like Topsy, they "weren't made, they growed." But think back twenty years, if you are old enough, and you will remember that they were then unknown. How they came to be is in this wise: A young lady, Mary E. Wilson, was employed in the photographic gallery of Gutekunst, Philadelphia, as a retoucher; she had much artistic taste, and in idle moments sketched flowers on the back of his advertising cards and sent them to her friends. They were so pleased that it occurred to her to suggest to Mr. Gutekunst that such flower pictures would enhance the value of his advertising cards. She painted two, a trailing arbutus, and a flower- ing quince. At once he seized the idea and had them lithographed. He sent them out broadcast, and this new method of advertising spread like wildfire. If Mary Wilson had patented it, she would be a rich woman today.
Frances Power Cobbe says that when left free to act, woman naturally gravitates to the philanthropies. That this is true is proved by the fact that in the philanthropies woman is always "to the fore."
Elizabeth Mallett's newspaper was a reformatory journal; and if today you look through the literature devoted to, or springing out of, the philan- thropies, you will find that it emanates largely from the brain and heart of women. We doubt if there is in America a church in which the women do not outnumber the men, yet in the majority of churches their voice must not be heard except in singing and Sabbath-school teaching. They are to the fore in all missionary enterprises, and what they are doing for temperance let the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, with its forty well equipped, well-conducted lines of work, testify.
Today we would especially remember the services of those robust angels of the camp and field, Mother Liebreich and Mother Bickerdyke, both of Illinois, whose ministry on battle field and in hospital "was worth ten thou- sand men." No pension makes their infirm old age comfortable, but thousands of soldiers recognize, if the government does not, the value of their services. Grant once said of Mother Bickerdyke, "She outranks me."
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So we, today, in grateful recognition of what women have done for our country, declare America's foremothers outrank her generals.
The same spirit that actuated these brave women of national and inter- national reputation, was exemplified by the women who braved the hard- ships and privations of the wilderness, when they came with their husbands and fathers into the wilds of Boone county, during the twenties and thir- ties; and helped with hand and heart to build homes. The woods of this country were as uninviting and dangerous, as the wilds of Oregon or the Rockies. The savage Red Man was here, the same wild beasts, the same privations and hardships. The young wife and mother that came into this wilderness and faced all these privations, hardships and dangers had the same daring spirit; the same bravery and heroic courage that actuated the courageous women whose names are inscribed .on the roll of honor in na- tional history. If you could lift the impenetrable veil that shuts in the deeds of the women, that were to the fore in the settlement and development of Boone county, you would discover just as brave and heroic heroines as ever faced and overcame difficulties. Look into the round log cabins of one room, planted in the almost impassable forest without neighbors in sight or hearing; with prowling beast and wild men; perhaps, no shutter to the door and at times all alone, and you may form some conception of the soli- tude and the dangers that the brave heart had to face. You might be able to imagine, the bravery that was required to face such perils day after day, but you could not enter into the full conception, without the actual ex- perience of those who endured. If there had not been just such courageous spirit as this of woman, to walk right into the face of danger and hard- ship necessary to redeem the wilderness, and make it into homes, it would never have been done by man alone. There is not a settlement in Boone county, but what had its heroines. Their names may not be in the niche of fame, but nevertheless, they were here and their names are written on the true record, and will come to light in the Day of Great reckoning. It is the same old story expressed in Shakespeare, one heroine sung ten thousand perished in the wilderness unknown.
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CHAPTER XXII.
MISCELLANEOUS.
DANIEL BOONE.
As our county has been named in honor of this noted hero of our sister state, Kentucky, we can afford to spend some time with him, that we may know more of him and his life and character. He was among the greatest of pioneers of this northwest territory. Just how our fathers came to name our county in his honor is not known to the writer. It would be an interest- ing information if any one knows the story. The birthday of our hero is not definitely known. The most of the record points to the date of February, 1735. It is not essential, so we will let it go at that. He was the son of Squire Boone and his mother's name was Miss Sarah Morgan. He was blessed with six brothers, James, Samuel, Jonathan, George, Squire, Edward; and four sisters, Sarah, Elizabeth, Mary and Hannah. Some say that he was born in Virginia, others say in Pennsylvania. No matter, he is an honor big enough for both states.
He was among the very first pioneers in Kentucky, coming to that state in 1769. Early in his teens he began explorations into Tennessee. It was here that he received his education that fitted him for his great life work. He qualified in Brush College, one of the best institutions in the land. At the age of twenty he married Miss Rebecca Bryan, of North Carolina. To this union there sprang nine children, James, Israel, Jesse, Daniel, Nathan, Susan, Jemima, Lavinia and Rebecca. He moved his family to Kentucky in September, 1775. His wife and daughter, Jemima, were the first white women that ever stood on the banks of the Kentucky river. All the hard- ships and extreme danger of pioneer life came to him and his family. He never heard a college yell, but he heard many an Indian owl-hoot. He never engaged in the tango dance, but he could make back tracks so the Indians
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could not trail him. He was often captured by the Indians who planned to take his life but as often he made a marvelous escape. As soon as society became established and the Indian was gone, Boone became lonesome and nothing would do for him except the wilds of Missouri. He and his wife moved to that state where he spent the remainder of his life. Here he re- covered his lost fortune and paid all his debts.
He died in his home in Missouri at the ripe age of eighty-five. Twenty- five years afterwards his bones and those of his wife also, were taken up and buried at Frankfort, Kentucky. The story of his life is a thrilling one of real struggle, and it will do any one good to read it and ponder over its les- sons. His entire life was brave, noble and honest to the fullest extent and brimful of service, suffering and sacrifice. The poet Byron immortalized his memory in a memorial poem.
BUSINESS AND MANUFACTURES.
Lebanon, the capital of the county, and situated in the center with roads, railroads and trolleys radiating to every part of the county, is well located to attract the trade of the entire county. It has a live, energetic class of business men, and all lines of business are represented with lively and healthful com- petition. There are three extensive dry-goods stores; eight beautiful drug stores ; four large hardware stores; five clothing stores; six shoe stores; three toy or ten-cent stores; three furniture stores; ten grocery stores; four bak- eries : three meat markets; one fruit store; two candy kitchens; six restau- rants ; four tailoring shops; two laundries; four steam cleaners and pressing outfits ; eight barbers; four milliners ; two hotels ; three plumbing houses ; four art galleries, and two movies; one seed store ; one paint shop ; one green-house ; one wheel works; one flouring mill; one sawmill; two elevators; five coal yards; one power-house and shops; three Building Loan Companies, lately merged into one; one cement factory ; two lumber yards; one chair factory ; one kitchen cabinet factory; one cream separator factory; two trust com- panies ; three banks ; four livery stables ; four garages; one electric light com- pany ; one gas company ; one insurance company ; two weekly and two daily newspapers to collect the news of the city and county ; one job printing estab- lishment ; a score or more as pleasant and handsome doctors as ever helped
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poor mortals over the passage; three undertakers, who will kindly administer the last services; and one cemetery where all will be laid to rest ; one monu- ment shop to mark your final resting place with a memorial. Last of all there are two abstractors and a posse of gifted attorneys to see that your estate is properly titled and distributed. In fact you will find in this capital city, of the county, every article that is necessary, for your comfort and every artisan ready and willing to serve well and gracefully.
REPORT OF COUNTY SUPERINTENDENT.
County Superintendent E. M. Servies completed his annual statistical and financial report to the state superintendent of public instruction for the year ending July 31, 1914.
The report shows that the total enrollment of pupils for the school year 1913-14 was 5,186, and that the average daily attendance was 4,461.2. The enrollment included 22 colored children-9 boys and 13 girls. Of the white children enrolled 2,646 were boys and 2,518 girls.
In the high schools of the county, included in the above total, there were enrolled in the first year 203; second year, 185; third year, 135; fourth year, 139, a total of 662.
The total enrollment of the Lebanon schools was 1,218; Thorntown, 362; Marion township, 419; Clinton, 243; Washington, 229; Sugar Creek, 165; Jefferson, 257; Center, 362; Union, 194; Eagle, 501 ; Perry, 195; Har- rison, 184; Jackson, 599; Worth, 258. The Crawford Home school, in Eagle township, has an enrollment of 40, and is the only private school in the county.
The total amount paid the teachers in the city, town and township ele- mentary schools of the county was $74,156.21 ; total paid for apparatus, etc., $20,625.73 ; grand total, $94,781.94. Average cost per pupil in the elemen- tary schools of the county, $20.95.
In the county's high schools the teachers were paid a total of $27,869.93, and there was paid for apparatus, etc., $5,856.56, a total of $33,726.49, or $50.95 per pupil.
The total number of teachers employed in all the schools of the county was 184, and the salaries paid aggregated $101,743. The average wages paid high school teachers in the county was $5.55 a day to men and $4.86 to
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women; average wages paid men as grade teacher's, $2.68; women, $2.89. The average wages of teachers in the district schools was $2.83.
During the year five new school houses were erected in the county, at a cost of $12,871. There are 121 school buildings in the county, 94 of which are brick, and 27 frame.
The financial report of Superintendent Servies shows that the entire amount expended by the county for school purposes for the year ending July 31, 1914, was $216,625.71.
There were outstanding in the county on July 31, 1914, warrants aggre- gating $2,700 and bonds aggregating $157.950 for school purposes, as fol- lows: Clinton township, $10,600 bonds at 41/2 per cent .; Eagle township, $1,400 orders at 6 per cent. and $29,350 bonds at 47/2 per cent .; Jackson township, $41,000 bonds at 41/2 per cent .; Washington township, $1,300 orders at 6 per cent. ; Thorntown, $12,000 bonds at 41/2 per cent .; Lebanon, $65,000 bonds at 474 per cent.
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